Five Times Someone Left Jim
by Protector of Canon2
Summary: And the one time he knew they never would


So, ever since I first saw the newest Star Trek movie, I have been obsessed with the fandom. Specifically, with James T. Kirk. So I've been writing a lot, mainly character pieces on the good Captain, because he's absolutely fascinating.

To those of you who are following my other fics, I apologize, but I'm going to be doing a lot of revisions before I continue posting those. In the meantime, I have a bunch of one-shots and shorter stories that I want to put out here. Well, I think that's all.

Read on.

* * *

Five Times Someone Left Jim, and The One Time He Knew They Never Would

The first person who left Jim had very little choice about it, and really only left for Jim's own sake.

But that didn't change the fact that he left.

George Kirk died a hero, but he still died, and Jim still had to grow up without a father. George's sacrifice saved his wife and his son and 800 other people, but that sacrifice could not read to Jim or comfort him after a nightmare or teach him the things that only a father could teach.

Jim's father left him because he had no other choice, but Jim's father left him.

* * *

The second person who left Jim left at the same time the first person did.

Not physically; physically, Winnona Kirk stayed on Earth for several years after her husband died. Once she did return to space, she quickly began to spend more time off-planet than with her family.

But that wasn't when she left Jim; not really.

Jim's mother left him when she never once celebrated his birthday because she was too busy mourning. Jim's mother left him when she looked at him and only saw his dead father. Jim's mother left him when she was too emotionally broken to raise him.

Jim's mother left him the day he was born.

* * *

The third person who left Jim was simply not strong enough to stay.

Sam was just a child himself, barely fourteen. For years he had stayed, despite the beatings, despite the knowledge that Frank hated even the memory of his father, despite everything because he knew that he couldn't leave Jim.

He certainly couldn't take Jim with him; he would be on his own, hiding from the authorities, struggling to survive. Completely aside from the fact that his life would be hard enough if he wasn't trying to take care of his little brother, he couldn't ensure that the life Jim would have with him would be any better than the life Jim would have with Frank.

So he stayed with Jim as long as he could.

But he couldn't deal with Frank forever. Eventually he ran away, and he left Jim behind.

Jim's brother left him because staying was too hard. Jim couldn't really fault him, since he also left as soon as he could.

* * *

The fourth time someone left Jim, everybody left at the same time.

He was at a colony on Tarsus IV staying with his aunt, uncle, and cousins.

He loved it there; for the first time in his life, he felt loved and accepted by everyone. But then the crops failed, the famine struck, and Kodos took over.

Within weeks, 4,000 people were dead.

Everyone who hadn't already left Jim left him then, and Jim began to realize that everyone would leave him eventually.

* * *

The next person who left Jim was the first person who every understood him.

Jim wouldn't go so far as to say that he loved Gaila romantically—they were friends-with-benefits, not lovers—but he definitely felt something for her that he had never felt for anyone else.

He probably would have said that she was like a sister, but that would have been awkward, all things considered.

He certainly hadn't only been with her to beat the Kobayashi Maru. In the first place, they started having sex before the first time Jim took the test. In the second, Jim didn't do that. He slept around, but he didn't use women. And he certainly was not a whore.

Jim had been drawn to Gaila because the former slave-girl knew what it was to have no one. Gaila and Jim connected as only two people who have experienced similar traumas can.

She would be upset, he knew, that he had used her codes to cheat, but he also knew that he could make her understand.

Or he would have been able to, if he had had the chance.

If not for Nero.

Gaila left Jim before he could earn her forgiveness, and he would never forgive himself for that.

* * *

The first time Jim left someone was also the moment at which he finally understood his father.

The away team had been captured by a native civilization who were far more advanced than they should have been and who had weapons capable of destroying the _Enterprise_.

Jim's decision was easy; the hard part was convincing the natives that he was the only one they needed.

As he watched his crew leave—reluctantly, but they would not refuse a direct order, especially when they knew he was right—he knew he was going to die painfully. Starfleet would never give in to the native's demands, so Jim would be tortured to death.

And he could accept that, as long as his crew was safe.

Days later, as he lay on the floor of a small cell, in too much pain to move, he still felt the same. He heard the door creak open and braced himself for another session, wondering idly as he did how long he would be able to last.

When he heard Bones's voice say, "My god, Jim, what did they do to you?" and Sulu's voice say, "Is he going to be alright, doc?" and Spock: "I advise that you work quickly, Doctor. Every minute we delay, our chances of success fall by 8.3%," it took him a few moments to realize exactly what was happening.

But when too-warm-to-be-human arms lifted his limp body off the ground and cradled him gently and he felt himself moving quickly through the halls and then the world began to fade around him as the transporter beam grabbed him, he was finally able to relax.

He was back; he was home.

And Jim realized that he had finally found the people who would not leave him.

* * *

Thoughts? Opinions? Endless praise? Rotten tomatoes?


End file.
